Paul Daniel
Encyclopedia
Paul Daniel CBE
(born 5 July 1958, Birmingham
, England
) is an English
conductor
. He is particularly noted for performances and recordings of opera
and of British music.
As a boy, he sang in the choir of Coventry Cathedral
, where he received musical training. He attended King's College, Cambridge
where he studied music. After graduation he went on to learn conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
in London, where his teachers included Sir Adrian Boult
and Sir Edward Downes
.
In 1982, he received a position on the musical staff of the English National Opera
, remaining there until 1987. He also became the Music Director of Opera Factory. In the late '80s he was Musical Director of a number of amateur choirs, notably Wokingham Choral Society, often featuring his (then) future wife, the soprano Joan Rodgers.
His career began to come to the fore in the 1990s. From 1990 to 1997, he was Musical Director of Opera North
and Principal Conductor of the English Northern Philharmonia. He attracted attention widely for his ability to find and bring to the stage worthwhile operas that had never entered the repertory and for his support for newer repertory. Performances included Dukas
' Ariane et Barbe-bleue
, Tippett
's King Priam
, Don Giovanni
, Schreker
's Der Ferne Klang
, Korngold
's Violanta
(in concert), Boris Godunov
(with which Opera North made its debut at the Proms
in 1992), Don Carlos
, Wozzeck
, Gloriana
, Il Trovatore
, Pelleas and Melisande
, the world premieres of Michael Berkeley
's Baa, Baa, Black Sheep and Benedict Mason
's Playing Away, which was premiered at the Munich Biennale
and won awards for best production and design, Jenůfa
, Luisa Miller
, Falstaff
and Tannhäuser.
Daniel became Music Director of English National Opera in September 1997 until 2005. While there he conducted The Flying Dutchman
, Falstaff, From the House of the Dead
, The Tales of Hoffmann
, Manon
, Otello
, Boris Godunov, La Traviata
, Dialogues des Carmelites
, Der Rosenkavalier
and Peter Grimes
. He had already worked extensively with the company where productions included the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle
's The Mask of Orpheus
(together with the conductor Elgar Howarth
), The Marriage of Figaro
, Glass
' Akhnaten
, Tosca
, Carmen
, Rigoletto and performances of King Priam, as part of the Tippett birthday celebrations.
Daniel encountered difficulty early in his tenure at ENO, with the departure of Dennis Marks as ENO's general director about a month after Daniel's own arrival. This forced Daniel unexpectedly to assume a more public role as the artistic face of the organization, until the arrival of Nicholas Payne as general director. One analysis of this situation was that this additional work distracted Daniel from developing a fuller rapport with the orchestra. In December 2003, Daniel announced his resignation from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005. In addition, towards the later part of his tenure, there were reports of clashes between Daniel and ENO artistic director Sean Doran. He expressed concerns about the future of ENO in an April 2005 interview with The Guardian, which led to the Director of Marketing Ian McKay booing Daniel at the conductor's last performance as ENO music director.
In February 1998, Daniel received an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera, and in 1999 he received a Gramophone Award for his English music series on Naxos Records
. He was awarded the CBE
in the 2000 New Year’s Honours list.
In September 2005, Daniel presided at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall
for the first time.
In May 2007, Daniel was named the next Principal Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra
(WASO), effective as of January 2009. He had made his guest conducting debut with the WASO in 1995, and returned in April 2006.
, Daniel wore a coat designed specifically for the occasion by Vivienne Westwood
. He went on to wear it for other occasions, including the BBC Proms.
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
(born 5 July 1958, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
. He is particularly noted for performances and recordings of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and of British music.
As a boy, he sang in the choir of Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
, where he received musical training. He attended King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
where he studied music. After graduation he went on to learn conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
in London, where his teachers included Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
and Sir Edward Downes
Edward Downes
Sir Edward Thomas "Ted" Downes, CBE was an English conductor, specialising in opera.He was associated with the Royal Opera House from 1952, and with Opera Australia from 1970. He was also well known for his long working relationship with the BBC Philharmonic and for working with the Netherlands...
.
In 1982, he received a position on the musical staff of the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
, remaining there until 1987. He also became the Music Director of Opera Factory. In the late '80s he was Musical Director of a number of amateur choirs, notably Wokingham Choral Society, often featuring his (then) future wife, the soprano Joan Rodgers.
His career began to come to the fore in the 1990s. From 1990 to 1997, he was Musical Director of Opera North
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
and Principal Conductor of the English Northern Philharmonia. He attracted attention widely for his ability to find and bring to the stage worthwhile operas that had never entered the repertory and for his support for newer repertory. Performances included Dukas
Paul Dukas
Paul Abraham Dukas was a French composer, critic, scholar and teacher. A studious man, of retiring personality, he was intensely self-critical, and he abandoned and destroyed many of his compositions...
' Ariane et Barbe-bleue
Ariane et Barbe-bleue
Ariane et Barbe-bleue is an opera in three acts by Paul Dukas. The French libretto is adapted from the symbolist play by Maurice Maeterlinck....
, Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
's King Priam
King Priam
King Priam is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's Iliad, except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the Fabulae of Hyginus.The premiere was on 29 May 1962, at Coventry...
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Schreker
Franz Schreker
Franz Schreker was an Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and administrator. Primarily a composer of operas, his style is characterized by aesthetic plurality , timbral experimentation, strategies of extended tonality and...
's Der Ferne Klang
Der ferne Klang
Der ferne Klang is an opera by Franz Schreker, libretto by the composer.-Composition history:Drafted in 1901, Schreker completed the three-act libretto in 1903. However, composing the music would take about ten years. Criticism from his composition teacher Robert Fuchs caused Schreker to abandon...
, Korngold
Korngold
Korngold is surname of:* Julius Korngold , Jewish Austro-Hungarian music critic* Erich Wolfgang Korngold , Jewish Austro-Hungarian film- and romantic music composer* Piano Concerto for the Left Hand...
's Violanta
Violanta
Violanta is a one-act opera by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The libretto is by the Austrian playwright Hans Müller-Einigen. It is Korngold's second opera, written when he was only seventeen years old.-Performance history:...
(in concert), Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
(with which Opera North made its debut at the Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
in 1992), Don Carlos
Don Carlos
Don Carlos is a five-act grand opera composed by Giuseppe Verdi to a French language libretto by Camille du Locle and Joseph Méry, based on the dramatic play Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien by Friedrich Schiller...
, Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
, Gloriana
Gloriana
Gloriana is an opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten to an English libretto by William Plomer, based on Elizabeth and Essex by Lytton Strachey...
, Il Trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, Pelleas and Melisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
, the world premieres of Michael Berkeley
Michael Berkeley
Michael Berkeley is a British composer and broadcaster on music.-Early life:His father was the composer Sir Lennox Berkeley...
's Baa, Baa, Black Sheep and Benedict Mason
Benedict Mason
Benedict Mason, born on 23 February 1954, is a British composer.Mason was educated at King's College Cambridge and took a degree in film-making at the Royal College of Art . He did not turn to composition until his early 30s, but his first acknowledged work, Hinterstoisser Traverse , attracted...
's Playing Away, which was premiered at the Munich Biennale
Munich Biennale
The Munich Biennale is an opera festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over...
and won awards for best production and design, Jenůfa
Jenufa
Jenůfa is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová. It was first performed at the Brno Theater, Brno, 21 January 1904...
, Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller
Luisa Miller is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play Kabale und Liebe by Friedrich von Schiller. The first performance was given at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples on December 8, 1849...
, Falstaff
Falstaff (opera)
Falstaff is an operatic commedia lirica in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, adapted by Arrigo Boito from Shakespeare's plays The Merry Wives of Windsor and scenes from Henry IV. It was Verdi's last opera, written in the composer's ninth decade, and only the second of his 26 operas to be a comedy...
and Tannhäuser.
Daniel became Music Director of English National Opera in September 1997 until 2005. While there he conducted The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman
The legend of the Flying Dutchman concerns a ghost ship that can never make port, doomed to sail the oceans forever. It probably originates from 17th-century nautical folklore. The oldest extant version dates to the late 18th century....
, Falstaff, From the House of the Dead
From the House of the Dead
From the House of the Dead is an opera by Leoš Janáček, in three acts. The libretto was translated and adapted by the composer from the novel by Dostoyevsky...
, The Tales of Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann
Les contes d'Hoffmann is an opéra by Jacques Offenbach. The French libretto was written by Jules Barbier, based on short stories by E. T. A...
, Manon
Manon
Manon is an opéra comique in five acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille, based on the 1731 novel L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by the Abbé Prévost...
, Otello
Otello (Rossini)
Otello is an opera in three acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Berio di Salsi, based on Shakespeare's play Othello....
, Boris Godunov, La Traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Dialogues des Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites
Dialogues of the Carmelites , is an opera in three acts by Francis Poulenc. In 1953, M. Valcarenghi approached Poulenc to commission a ballet for La Scala in Milan; when Poulenc found the proposed subject uninspiring, Valcarenghi suggested instead a screenplay by Georges Bernanos, based on the...
, Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
and Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
. He had already worked extensively with the company where productions included the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
's The Mask of Orpheus
The Mask of Orpheus
The Mask of Orpheus is an opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto by Peter Zinovieff. It was premiered in London at the English National Opera on May 21, 1986 to great critical acclaim. A recorded version conducted by Andrew Davis and Martyn Brabbins has also received good reviews...
(together with the conductor Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth is an English conductor and composer.Howarth was educated in the 1950s at Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music , where his fellow students included the composers Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, and the...
), The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
' Akhnaten
Akhnaten (opera)
Akhnaten is an opera in three acts based on the life and religious convictions of the pharaoh Akhenaten , written by the American minimalist composer Philip Glass in 1983. Akhnaten had its world premiere on March 24, 1984 at the Stuttgart State Opera, under the German title Echnaton...
, Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, Rigoletto and performances of King Priam, as part of the Tippett birthday celebrations.
Daniel encountered difficulty early in his tenure at ENO, with the departure of Dennis Marks as ENO's general director about a month after Daniel's own arrival. This forced Daniel unexpectedly to assume a more public role as the artistic face of the organization, until the arrival of Nicholas Payne as general director. One analysis of this situation was that this additional work distracted Daniel from developing a fuller rapport with the orchestra. In December 2003, Daniel announced his resignation from ENO at the end of his contract in 2005. In addition, towards the later part of his tenure, there were reports of clashes between Daniel and ENO artistic director Sean Doran. He expressed concerns about the future of ENO in an April 2005 interview with The Guardian, which led to the Director of Marketing Ian McKay booing Daniel at the conductor's last performance as ENO music director.
In February 1998, Daniel received an Olivier Award for outstanding achievement in opera, and in 1999 he received a Gramophone Award for his English music series on Naxos Records
Naxos Records
Naxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
. He was awarded the CBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in the 2000 New Year’s Honours list.
In September 2005, Daniel presided at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
for the first time.
In May 2007, Daniel was named the next Principal Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra
West Australian Symphony Orchestra
The West Australian Symphony Orchestra , often known as the "Orchestra of the West", is the premier professional orchestra of the state of Western Australia.-History:...
(WASO), effective as of January 2009. He had made his guest conducting debut with the WASO in 1995, and returned in April 2006.
Trivia
At the opening of the Millennium DomeMillennium Dome
The Millennium Dome, colloquially referred to simply as The Dome or even The O2 Arena, is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium...
, Daniel wore a coat designed specifically for the occasion by Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood
Dame Vivienne Westwood, DBE, RDI is a British fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.-Early life:...
. He went on to wear it for other occasions, including the BBC Proms.